March 6: Minneapolis - Monitoring Domestic Violence in Mongolia

This CLE will focus on “Implementation of Mongolia’s Domestic Violence Legislation,” a newly-released report that analyzes the real-life results that followed the Mongolian government's enactment of the Law to Combat Domestic Violence in 2004. The Advocates for Human Rights and its partner, the National Center Against Violence (NCAV), headquartered in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, co-authored the report, which was released in January 2014.
Specifically, the report points to the challenges obtaining restraining orders; the consequences of domestic violence not being directly addressed by penal legislation; the barriers the country’s Family Law poses to obtaining a divorce; and the results of the lack of shelters and essential social services and support.
This session will also explore the two fact-finding missions The Advocates and NCAV conducted in Mongolia in January and March 2013. Representatives of the organizations traveled to seven cities throughout Mongolia, conducting 137 interviews with ministry officials, non-governmental organizations, victims, social workers, police, judges, prosecutors, lawyers, governors, and health care workers.
Click here for registration. Registration closes February 27.
Title:
Monitoring Domestic Violence in Mongolia
When/Where:
Thursday, March 6, 2014
11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Robins, Kaplan, Miller &Ciresi
Conference Center, 29th floor (*check-in on 28th floor)
800 LaSalle Avenue
2800 LaSalle Plaza
Minneapolis, MN 55402

Speakers:

• Aviva Breen, a board member of The Advocates, is a long-time volunteer with the organization's Women’s Human Rights Program. She has participated in training on domestic violence law reform and advocacy, including training for advocates, judges, police officers, health care professionals, and social workers. Previously, Breen was director of the Legislative Commission on the Economic Status of Women in Minnesota. Prior to her work with the Commission, she was an attorney with the Legal Services Advocacy Project.
• Kate Bruce is a judicial law clerk with the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. Previously, she was an attorney at Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi. Kate has provided extensive pro bono work, representing victims of domestic violence and asylum seekers. She has also worked with the Hague Domestic Violence Project, where she developed training resources for and provided technical assistance to attorneys representing battered mothers in cases brought under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. In 2013, she had the honor of working with The Advocates as a volunteer for the domestic violence-related fact-finding mission in Mongolia.
• Erdenechimeg “Chimgee” Haltarhuu was born in Mongolia. As a child, she frequently witnessed her father beating her mother. After graduating from the prestigious Mongolian Circus School, she joined the Mongolian State Circus. While performing across Mongolia, Russia and Europe, she married a fellow circus performer and became a victim of domestic abuse. She suffered many injuries, including a broken jaw and the loss of teeth. Because of her experiences, Chimgee spreads awareness of domestic violence and what women can do. The Ministry of Culture in Mongolia has honored her with its highest citizen award, the “Foremost Cultural Worker” for her work to prevent domestic violence. Last year, she received the “2012 Amazing Woman” award at the Mongolian Women’s Conference in Chicago. Now happily remarried, she lives in Minneapolis and works through her charity, Mission Manduhai, to aid those in her homeland.
• Helen Rubenstein is deputy director of The Advocates’ Women’s Human Rights Program. She has conducted fact-finding missions in Mongolia and co-authored a report on the implementation of domestic violence legislation in that country. At the request of non-government organizations in Mongolia, Kazakhstn, Uganda, and Somalia, she has evaluated laws in those countries according to international human rights principles. She also has developed training programs for legal professionals in Eastern Europe and Central Asia on violence against women.

By:

The Advocates for Human Rights
www.theadvocatesforhumanrights.org
Credit:
Application submitted for 2 standard CLE credits
More information and Registration